Carers allowance 35 hours per week how rigid!!

Just_caring

With the info given above , thank you everyone and especially Tehya I will do 35 hours I did not realise you could include all the little things you do because its "yourMum" I don't like claiming benefits but when it effects what you can do work wise you have to be sensible.
Kingfisher I will contact my local Carers centre.

Just_caring

Mckneff, what does OP stand for I am new to forums.

Yes 35 hours is a lot of time, that is why I am unable to do a full time job now and neither me or my mum want strangers doing for her, she is very proud and would say she can manage if I wasn't caring for her ( which she can not)

If I had been reading a post like this a few years ago I think I would have been spectical but you have to be in the position to understand, I have always paid into the system so maybe now it's time to get a little back when I need too?

Heycock

Mckneff...35 hours is nothing when you're caring for someone. It mounts up very quickly without you really noticing until you crack up and realise exactly how much you've been doing.
Justcaring...OP Original Post.

Just_caring

So true Heycock, I got in this situation and did not work for 6 months (I did not claim anything as I made the decision due to family pressures) never even considered CA until the job centre advised.

Well signing off now for a well earned glass of vino

Good night all and thank you

red_me

I think most carers do way above 35 hrs, i for one do. What would the government do without us carers, we get very low income no social life and !!!! loads of stress with all these benefit changes that are coming in.

Elvisia

I include my night shifts in my 35 hours, I live with my dad and I always have one ear open for him as he gets up 6-7 times a night, and sometimes he'll need help getting back to bed. Sometimes he'll need medical attention like emergency doctor or ambulance, and I feel no guilt in adding my 8 hours a night onto what I already do during the day.
For the 35 hours a week the person you are caring for just has to sign the form to say you are doing that, caring takes many forms and even things like being in the house when they're there to going into town to pick up prescriptions all adds up. It's just not for people who look in on someone once a week, or my friend who claimed for her brother just on the grounds that she could and it was free money.

no-oneknowsme

McKneff wrote: »

No offence or anything to you OP but dont you think the system is open to massive abuse if it is not checked up on.

35 hours a week is an awful lot of time.

35 hours isnt really a long time when caring for some-one.

I DONT claim carers allowance as I earn more than the limit you are allowed to earn to receive this benefit. However , I can honestly say that I spend more than 35 hours per week looking after my Mum (who has cancer).

Once you take into account all the little things you do the hours soon mount up.

For example: I take my Mum grocery shopping once a week. Because she has bone cancer she is very slow at walking round the supermarket so the weekly shopping , including the time spent traveling to and from the shop takes 2/3 hours alone.

Add to this the daily trips I make to the local shops most days to get her small items such as bread and milk and that adds more time.

Going to the docs to collect prescriptions , collecting them from the chemist , sitting outside the bathroom door whilst she showers or bathes incase of a fall etc , this adds up to way more than 35 hours.

I do all of the above without being paid because she is my Mum and I love her.

grummps

Just_caring wrote: »

Been advised by the job centre to claim CA for mum, how rigid are the rules if you do not do care for 35 hours some weeks, do they want to know what you do day by day?

I questioned the Carers Service (DWP) about this very same thing.

In my case I provide care for a relative that lives 300+ miles away.

Approx one week in every month I spend a total 78 hours caring (approx 30 hours of driving and 48 hours of being with him in his own home) for the relative. My wife in that same week spends another 119 hours caring for the same relative.

Additionally, in the intervening three weeks or so, I spend an average of about 15 hours a week sorting out all of his paperwork, bank, letters, medical appointments etc. as well as a minimum of 3 telephone calls a week (which last at least an hour each time).

The Carers Service would not accept my claim for Carers Allowance as the care provided is not on a regular weekly basis and that when looking at the overall care package, it only amounts to 12 weeks a year that the 35 hour rule is reached.

I was not allowed to make a claim 'as and when' or indeed 'average' out the hours - it had to be a regular min 35 hours each week throughout the year.

I arrived back on Saturday after another 'caring week' which has seen another 1400 miles added onto the car! The start of the next 1400 miles will be on the 17th August.

mikey_bach

Grumps that was an interesting post, I have seen people claiming CA for someone who lives hundreds of miles away and I was wondering how they did it and satisfy the 35 hour rule....

grummps

mikey_bach wrote: »

Grumps that was an interesting post, I have seen people claiming CA for someone who lives hundreds of miles away and I was wondering how they did it and satisfy the 35 hour rule....

So would I?????

I can see how I could play it to fiddle the claim.

instead of having the relative here from Monday to Friday, it could be split over a weekend thereby the caring could be shown to be carried out over a two week period.

78 hours Mon - Fri

or

39 hours Friday - Sunday
39 hours Monday - Thursday.

That would be classed as fraud as it would be manipulating the system to get 24 weeks in the year as qualifying instead of the 12 that I do - all doing the same hours albeit over a different timescale.

But having said that, how they manage to put in another two lots of 35 hours to complete the month I don't know - there must be a fiddle in it somewhere.

Maybe I will ask the question in a new thread 'how do you fiddle a claim for Carers Allowance if the relative you care for lives 300+ miles away?'